Our theme this week was Tetrominos. We first played Jenga: Tetris (Hasbro, 2013). Each child tried to build the highest tower with the 47 pieces. The winner reached a height of 27 layers. The children then took it in turns to build the tower, before removing a piece and placing it on top. Because the pieces are tetrominos it is harder to get them out.

We then played Block Builders (Marks and Spencer), which uses six tetromino shapes. There are two games in one box. In Block Rows, the aim is to complete rows and score points. In 4 Square, one player is red and the other blue: the aim is to make a 2 x 2 square or a 4 in a row of your colour and score points. A spinner dictates which shape the player must pick up and use.

As Block Builders includes making a 4 in a row it seemed logical to end with Connect 4. We experimented by letting the children choose whether to make a 2 x 2 square or a 4 in a row of their colour, and by using all 42 pieces. It ended in an honourable 3-3 draw.

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This week at our Board Games Club for Adults we played a 4 in a row game you might have heard of (Connect 4) and a 5 in a row game you might not of: Pentago. On their turn each player does two things: add one marble of their colour to the board, then twist one quadrant of the board through 90º. The game board is constantly changing, and the key is to set up the board so that you twist it to make a 5 in a row on your next move, hoping the other player cannot see what you are about to do.

We also played Tri It! (Spears, 1995). A role of the die tells the player which colour line (yellow, green or blue) to move along. The aim is to get your three counters around a triangle and score the number of points shown inside the triangle. The first to 10 points wins.

Our other  game was The Knot Game (The Works). Players are dealt a set of tiles which they take turns to lay down. They must link to a rope already laid down by matching the colour. The winner is the first to lay all their tiles.